The present invention generally relates to smartcard, and more specifically, to a method and system for facilitating memory and application management of multiple applications on a smartcard.
With current technologies, a single smartcard is able to store and handle multiple applications. Typically, when a single smartcard contains multiple applications, each application is kept separate and operates independently of other applications. More specifically, the application code or logic and associated data for each application are strictly confined for access and use by that particular application. In other words, the application code and the associated data for each application are not shared with other applications on the smartcard.
In general, applications often include a number of functions or logic that is commonly used by almost all other applications residing on a smartcard. As a result, when applications do not share their code with other applications, there is an overlap of application code that is used for implementing these commonly used functions amongst the various applications. The duplicative application code did not present a significant disadvantage if memory space was freely available. In a smartcard, however, memory space is of a premium due to its limited physical size. Duplicative application code in a smartcard, therefore, occupies valuable memory space that could otherwise have been utilized for other purposes.
Hence, it would be desirable to provide a method and system that is capable of facilitating memory management of multiple applications on a smartcard.
Furthermore, when applications on a smartcard operate independently from one another, a person managing the smartcard must then be familiar with the mechanics of each application. For example, in order to program a particular application on the smartcard, a person must be familiar with the syntax of the programming language that is used to program that particular application. Consequently, the task of managing multiple applications on the smartcard becomes quite burdensome.
Hence, it would also be desirable to have a method and system that is capable of facilitating application management on a smartcard.